Formal Properties of Measurement Constructions

Book excerpt: This book investigates the semantics and syntax-semantics interface of measurement constructions, such as (non-)split quantifiers and comparatives. The cross-linguistic investigation reveals that seemingly diverse constructions can be categorized into two classes depending on whether they measure nominal or verbal predicates, and shows that the classification accounts for why certain constructions have certain characteristics concerning distributivity and single-event predicates. Throughout the book, particular emphasis is placed on issues of compositionality.